World Junior Championships

Hello everyone! I apologize for not updating the blog in a while. I guess a lot has happened in the past 3 weeks. At the end of February, I flew over to Jasna, Slovakia for the Junior World Championships. We had a couple days of freeskiing and training before the races began. We started off with the Super-G and the Super-Combined. Although the track was a bit mellow, the trail turned quite a bit and there were a few jumps to keep it exciting. After a great top split, I made a minor mistake which caused me to scrub most of the speed I had carried from the top steeps. The hiccup toward the end caused me to finish outside the top 10, to place 22^nd. I had a great start to the Super-Combined but unfortunately I skied out, gunning for a top 10. It was an incredibly tight race, as I was only 0.40 seconds out of the top 10. Next was 2 Downhill training run days followed by 1 race day. After the first training run, our team was off to a great start as Sam Dupratt finished 2^nd, I finished 9^th, and Tanner Farrow finished 12^th. The second training run was cancelled do to weather; which didn’t bother us too much because of our training run success. Unfortunately it turned into a not so great day.

As a whole, we had great bib draws and we were excited for a sweet day of downhill. I ran 22^nd . Once again, I had a fast first split, carrying my speed from the pitch to the flats, where I found some trouble. Halfway down the course, I took off a little jump, which I landed fine. I then began to pressure my ski to make a left foot turn across the hill. Unfortunately, I started the turn a little early and was heading straight at the gate. I then had to let off the ski a bit and then pressure hard again under the gate, where I hit a bump.  That is when I felt my knee go from under me and started tomahawking down the hill. I had excruciating pain in my left knee and was pretty positive I messed something up down there. I was taken down in a sled and taken to the hospital in a sketchy ambulance. I later found out I tore my ACL. It’s unfortunate to end a season on an injury 2 years in a row, but I was pushing as hard as I could. Though it would be nice to be healthy, I know I would have been just as bummed out if I made it to the bottom safely and saw a 20^th place rank next to my name. This kind of thing happens when you push your limits, but that’s what makes ski racing so damn fun.

This past week, I have been doing some physical therapy, getting my knee ready for surgery. I will be going under the knife this coming Wednesday and I will let you all know how it goes!